<p>I received my financial aid offer about a week ago. I have a 10k Gallatin Scholarship, and other grants that amount to another 10k. To attend, I'd have to take out approx. 18k in loans; by the time I graduate, I'd owe NYU approx. 74k. </p>
<p>I'm considering Rutgers, my state school, considering I'd have extra money left over from their aid package...</p>
<p>I'm going to call the office tomorrow and appeal the aid package in hopes of getting a few more thousand dollars in grant..</p>
<p>I don't see how you would justify it. What opportunities does NYU provide that Rutgers can't?? The city is nice, but I don't know if that's worth paying off 80k when you graduate.</p>
<p>I can see Idealistic taking on up to $40K worth of debt, but I feel that is probably the upper end of what is reasonable in undergraduate years. $74K is way too much -- it just has to do with the level of payments required to pay off the debt and the likely salary. </p>
<p>My daughter was also admitted to Gallatin, last year -- which was a strong first choice for her -- but she turned down the spot for financial reasons. While we love the concept of Gallatin -- I personally wrote my own major in college -- I think you have to recognize that when you major is something odd or unique, it can be a drawback for future employment. </p>
<p>I mean, unless you specifically use your individualized study to prepare yourself for a highly marketable enterprise, you can get out in the end with a major that is hard to explain and doesn't exactly open a lot of doors to employment. That doesn't mean you won't find work -- on the contrary, highly creative, individualistic students are very likely to find their niche and may even go so far as create their own field of employment. (Example: Merl Reagle, the NY Times crossword editor featured in the movie Wordplay was so fascinated by puzzles that he created his own college major in "enigmatology" at Indiana University,-- great preparation for his current profession, but at the same time you have to admit that puzzle-editing is probably not the most lucrative job around. See <a href="http://puzzles.about.com/b/a/176454.htm%5B/url%5D">http://puzzles.about.com/b/a/176454.htm</a> )</p>
<p>Anyway, the long and short of it is that you don't want to be saddled with a lot of debt while you are busy inventing your own career to go along with with the major you designed.... and if you are and independent-spirited person who like the freedom to steer your own path, you may not be all that happy stuck in a job you hate for 20 years that you can't afford to quit because of your college debt. </p>
<p>So I'd say take your independent spirit and creative imagination to Rutgers, and focus on figuring out what kind of interesting and educational projects or travel you can do with that "extra money left over" from the Rutgers aid package.</p>
<p>I tend to agree, as a potential employer, that 'creating your own degree' is on the risky side. By and large, degrees are put together to help students get jobs - for the record I have Journalism and English undergrad degrees and and MBA. Take Journalism - if you want to get a job as a reporter or broadcaster, there are certain core courses you just need to take. Now, if you want to become a political reporter or an economics reporter, you can 'design' your program with a minor. Business degrees are more structured - you want to do accounting, you have to have the basics (most accounting degrees are designed to prepare you for a CPA). If you want to write, there are a wide range of literature and writing courses available.</p>
<p>Graduate degrees, in certain fields (forget business or law - they are pretty structured) offer you the opportunity to go into depth in a field of your choice </p>
<p>In other words, you might consider the less expensive undergraduate degree and use the money you save for grad school</p>
<p>I'm so, so jealous of you!!! You're still unsure of going to NYU even when they're offering you financial aid, I'd die to be in your situation!!! Intl students don't get nothing except those stupid loans!!!</p>